Humana (NYSE:HUM) Stock Price Up 3.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) shares rose 3.1% on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $288.00 to $301.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Humana traded as high as $242.40 and last traded at $241.04. Approximately 1,641,389 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 1,861,497 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.89.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Leerink Partners downgraded Humana from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $400.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Humana in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Humana in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Humana from $400.00 to $260.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $300.50.

Institutional Trading of Humana

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. &PARTNERS purchased a new stake in shares of Humana in the second quarter valued at $380,000. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Humana in the 2nd quarter worth about $204,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Humana in the 2nd quarter valued at about $279,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Humana during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Humana by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 16,860 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.38% of the company’s stock.

Humana Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $274.01 and its 200-day moving average is $321.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.76.

Humana (NYSE:HUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.66 billion. Humana had a net margin of 1.18% and a return on equity of 13.20%. On average, research analysts expect that Humana Inc. will post 16.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Humana Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.885 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Humana’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.36%.

Humana Company Profile

Humana Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides medical and specialty insurance products in the United States. It operates through two segments, Insurance and CenterWell. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits.